


the last line of defence

by shiv_roy



Category: DCU
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, this got into my head three days ago at 12 am and here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiv_roy/pseuds/shiv_roy
Summary: For completely professional reasons, Bruce kisses Clark. The rest is history.
Relationships: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 23
Kudos: 255





	the last line of defence

**Author's Note:**

> Whatever maneuvers I speak of.... all made up. I love typing for hours at 2 am. no i dont <3.

"Flash, report," Batman growled in his comm.

"Uhh, got about twenty civilians to safety- the place where the alien ship landed is fully evacuated. Just did eight rounds of the place," he said. Sounded about right. "Oh, and Superman is headed into the possibly dangerous alien ship right now." Once again sounded about right. Bruce muted the main comm link before letting out his growl of frustration. Then he opened a separate private comm link with Clark.

"Superman- just what do you think are you doing?" He demanded, but no answer. The comm was unbroken and the link was live- Bruce could hear the sounds of battle in the background from Clark's side. What was-

"Um, Batman, looks like Supes is under mind control of the aliens," Flash said. "Just thought you might want to know."

"Everyone is engaged, Batman," Diana yelled. "I need you to deal with the mind control, we're-" there was a loud crack from her link, "-we're already at short hand with the aliens here. We _cannot_ deal with a rogue Superman!" The aliens were a mixed bunch- some were pointy and bony, some were big and muscly, some were sticky and slimy, some almost humanoid, and all of them a pain in the ass. They had such varied fighting styles, it made it hard for the League to fight them because they were having to change their fighting styles very quickly. They were also not short in quantity. Which was an understatement since they outnumbered the Justice League four to one.

This little adventure Superman had gone on would be the topic of many arguments in the Justice League conference room, Bruce could feel it. He acknowledged Diana's message and turned the Batwing around to the centre of the invasion, where Superman was standing, his vision red. Bruce immediately fired rounds of Kryptonite gas balls at Superman. Sure enough, he crumpled to the ground, turning his now non-laser glare at Batman as he ejected from the plane. Batman could see the alien controlling Superman standing at the base of the ship- he'd have to get to it, but a very fast recovering evil Superman stood between them. Batman took out more Kryptonite gas balls. They were knocked out of his hand in less than a second, and they went off several feet away from them.

Superman was face to face with him, glaring like he was the worst thing on the planet. He was still recovering, but even a half powered Superman was more than a match for Batman. He had him by the throat, but Batman, thankfully, had more tricks up his sleeve. Literally. He choked a audio command and immediately, a set of green brass knuckles slid over Batman's gloves. It wasn't pure Kryptonite, but enough alloyed with brass to make Superman see stars. He punched Clark in the sternum, knowing he'd leave bruises on there. Maybe even scars. Bruce banished the thought of Clark's naked upper body and leaving scars on it from his mind, raining down punches on Clark instead.

Clark had brute strength, but he couldn't actually fight. With the Kryptonite, Bruce had him on the ground in a matter of minutes. That's when the slimy aliens launched on him. Bruce tried to fight them off but there were two of them on his hands, and two on his feet- he immediately yelled for assistance on the comms. Soon, Flash was there, trying to get the sticky messes away from Batman. Clark was still on the ground, although stirring.

"Faster, Flash," he snipped. "We can't let him recover and I'm the only one with the Kryptonite."

"I'm trying!" Flash snapped back. "I'm calling for more backup." In a moment, Green Arrow was there too, trying to get the aliens off of Bruce. It didn't help that other, pointier aliens were trying to get in on the Batman action, trying to keep his teammates from helping him. Flash was dealing with them. Slowly, finally, thinking they'd almost lose, they got Bruce out of the alien mess. Since luck was never on his side, Bruce found that his Kryptonite knuckles were missing. The clever little bastards had taken them off Bruce's hands in the confusion. Oh, also, Superman had recovered and was glaring straight at Batman, his eyes slowly turning red. Flash and Arrow were already fighting off the ring of aliens around them. There was no way they were going to last against Superman. So Bruce thought of something incredibly stupid: the last method of defense he knew. He ran towards Superman. Superman- or rather the alien controlling him- seemed to be confused as well, as Bruce stood less than a foot away from what was potential death.

Then he kissed Superman. Right on the lips. No sparks flew, no flower petals rained down, no music started, but Bruce felt strangely grounded. the only thing he could feel in any way was Clark. The kiss was hot, searing, even if only a press of the lips. Bruce broke it and put both hands on either sides of Clark's face. He looked confused. So Bruce kissed him again, this time slipping his tongue in. Clark's mouth felt excruciatingly hot against his. Bruce felt a surge of blood rush south and he broke the kiss. He really didn't need any problems in his pants. Superman looked at him, thoroughly confused, and then promptly collapsed to the ground. He picked up the man and laid him in an abandoned building before returning to the fight. Flash and Arrow were looking at him all funny. Arrow was gaping even.

"He won't be a problem anymore," Batman growled, and went back to fighting as if nothing had happened. He still had to kill the alien responsible for this. At the end of the day, they won after the mind control failed and it turned out more than half the aliens were under its influence and didn't want to fight. Diana called for a mandatory mission briefing immediately after. Every squad gave a short account of what went down, and before long, it was Flash, Arrow and Batman's turn.

"Batman kissed Superman!" Arrow blurted. Bruce felt heat creep up his neck as the entire extended League- along with his own family- all turned to look at him. Someone whistled. Bruce was sure the sound came from Red Hood.

"It's a shock maneuver," Bruce enunciated carefully, as if talking to a five year old. "Superman was basically trapped in his own mind and the shock of something unlikely happening rendered him out of the grasp of the mind control and unconscious, thus posing no problem to us any longer." The entire while, he could feel his tone becoming more and more defensive. The pause was extremely awkward after that. "Arrow, brief them on how we got rid of the mind control!" Batman snapped. Arrow blushed and started on the report.

"Looks like we're done for now. Everyone except senior members, get yourselves checked out in the infirmary," Diana said. "Any questions?"

"Where's Superman?" Nightwing asked, raising his hand. Bruce shot him a glare.

"In the infirmary, recovering from the, er- kiss." At least Diana had the grace to look a little contrite while saying it.

"Don't you wanna give him a kiss to shock maneuver him out of the coma, Batman?" Red Hood called from the back. "You know, for professional purposes." Bruce was going to take away all of Jason's guns for a year when they got back to Gotham.

"Oh, don't tease him boys. You know what they say," Flash said knowingly, "A kiss is always the last line of defense.

"Oh, really?" Nightwing said, looking suddenly very interested. "How so."

"True love's kiss," Flash announced, like that explained everything.

"Boys, back to Gotham," Bruce said, using his most Batman voice. Shouts of "Fine, we're leaving!" went up as the boys left, but not before Stephanie told him to give Superman a big smoochie from her. Needless to say, Batman was mortified. He stood up, gathering the remaining of his dignity (not a lot) and started to leave to do damage control but was stopped by Diana.

"Walk with me Bruce," she said. Not calling him Batman gave Bruce hint that this was going to be about something personal. Maybe a lecture about professionalism. As they walked to the Watchtower's viewing deck, Bruce decided to do her one better.

"Diana, I'm sorry for my unprofessionalism," he began. "It will not happen again, but he was about to attack, and there was nothing else left that I could do. The maneuver I mentioned is very well studied-"

"Very well, Bruce," she interrupted, looking as is she were caught off guard. "I'm not here to talk about that. Well, I am, but not in a professional capacity. More as a mutual friend of you both."

Bruce assumed she meant Clark. He didn't reply, not wanting to interrupt her. She seemed pleased as she pushed open the doors. The earth looked beautiful, as always. It always put things in perspective, to see the planet from outside. This was their home. This was where they came from. This is what they fought for.

"I've been meaning to talk to you both about this," Diana said. "But now seems as good an opportunity as any. Bruce... you and Clark dance around each other."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, mystified. Diana sighed.

"You argue after every fight about your battle techniques, but it is out of care for the other, not yourself. When something bad happens on field, Clark looks for you first. Has for years. And today was the first Kryptonite encounter Clark has had in years, because you made it so." Diana paused, looking at Bruce as if to check if he was following. Bruce waited a beat before protesting.

"Diana, it isn't-"

"No, I'm not reprimanding Bruce," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "Consider this a... friendly push. I'm saying it's okay to... to like someone. Steve had to convince me that he would be fine for so long and yet every moment I still worry for his safety. But it is worth it. Besides," she added, "it isn't like Leaguers don't date, just look at Dinah and Ollie-"

"I'll-," Bruce broke off. "Sure, Diana." Better not to protest things like this. Bruce found out long ago that just agreeing with people shortens conversations by lots. She tells him to go back home to Gotham and rest, that she would take care of the damage control. They did this once in a while, Bruce and Diana. Offer to take over if the other has been through something emotionally taxing. Except Bruce wasn't emotionally taxed or anything. He did feel tired though, so he took her offer. When he was back at the cave, it was in complete chaos. The kids were yelling and singing songs, even Jason had stayed over. Alfred offered him clean sweats as he began to take off the suits.

"The young Masters tell me to ready the wedding bells," he said in a dry tone, no doubt suspicious of whatever lies Dick and Jason had fed him.

"Won't be necessary," Bruce grunted, taking a warm washcloth from Alfred, who asked the kids to take the racket upstairs so Bruce could have some silence. He was sitting in the kitchen later, while Alfred made him sandwiches when he decided to tell him.

"I did kiss Clark," he admitted, feeling like a teenager confessing to his first kiss and not liking the feeling.

"Ah," was all Alfred said. There was a contemplative pause. "Some hot chocolate for comfort then, sir?"

"Oh, no, it was just in the field during the fight. Completely professional," Bruce said, nodding to himself.

"A completely professional kiss," Alfred repeated, as if trying to understand what Bruce was trying to say.

"To break mind control," Jason added. The kids all suddenly filed into the kitchen, laughing and pushing one another and causing a general ruckus. "He broke Superman's mind control with his Super Kiss."

Cass giggled. Bruce sighed. This was going to be a long couple of weeks.

~

It was almost one week after the infamous kiss. The Justice League had gone completely off rails with the info, and the news spread through the superhero community like a wildfire. People were randomly asking anyone from Bruce's family, or Kara Danvers, or Conner Kent for help on missions just to get inside information on the whole thing. Bruce had got several annoyed calls from Kate, Barbara and Conner. Like he could stop how nosy people were. He hadn't thought vigilantes and superheroes cared about gossip like this. 

Courtesy of several street cams being on at the place of the incident, it had also made national news. Bruce Wayne had been asked to comment on Gotham's resident hero locking lips with Superman. The Justice League released a statement that described the kiss only as "ending mind control" and they got called homophobic several times on Twitter. It was endless. At least Jason was enjoying himself. Immensely. Bruce found cutouts of the street cam photo of him and Clark taped to the Batcomputer. And about twenty other places over the cave and manor.

As for Clark, Bruce hadn't seen him since the kiss. He'd woke up two days ago and Bruce had found reasons not to be at the Watchtower in the time. He knew he'd have to face the music sometime. More like today, because he was on monitor duty. What's the worse that could happen? He'd lose Clark, a friend of almost fifteen years. More than a friend. Someone he'd take a bullet for. No biggie. Tuesday for Batman. He suited up almost lazily, taking his time, but was still early. 

The monitor hall contained a tired looking Diana seated in one of the chairs in front of the various screens showing tons of things: areas where tensions were high, a news channel or two, etc. He walked up and took a seat beside her. 

"Hey," she said. "Arrow left about an hour ago, he had a date."

"He should stop shirking on League duties," Batman grumbled. Diana laughed. 

"It's okay, my shift is over anyways and you're here." She paused. "I asked Superman to replace Martian Manhunter for monitor duty today."

Bruce turned to her slowly. 

"Only because he's always scheduled for it alone and he's still recovering so J'onn offered to take over his shift," she explained quickly. "Anyways, I'll get going."

She left quickly after that. Bruce sighed. He didn't think Diana was wrong in pulling this. He and Clark would need to talk it out. They had to be on good terms for the League to function, all three of them. He knew Diana meant well. The first hour or so, Bruce was alone. There wasn't much happening, so he took to working on a case in Gotham. He almost didn't hear the light footsteps approaching. Clark could float of course, so this was his way of letting Bruce know he was coming.

Finally, he sat down in the seat beside Bruce. They were silent for a short while before Clark spoke.

"So..." he started. "Are we going to talk about the kiss?"

Bruce knew Clark never beat around the bush. He steeled himself before replying. "If you want to."

"So yes," he said decidedly. Bruce closed the crime report he was studying and turned to Clark.

"I needed to get you out of the mind control, and quickly. I didn't have time to call Manhunter. You were about to burn the whole city to the ground. I knew a maneuver, and I used it," Bruce said, by ways of explaining himself. He looked up to see Clark smiling faintly before adding, meaningfully, "I'm sorry, Clark."

"Why are you sorry? You did what you had to do."

"I ignored boundaries you might have, as well as your personal space."

"Bruce, we're best friends. I don't mind being kissed by my best friend," Clark said. His cheeks were only slightly pink. "I wouldn't mind it if I wasn't under mind control then... I wouldn't mind it now."

"I'm glad to hear that," Bruce said and paused. He couldn't quite process that. Clark was only reassuring him that there were no hard feelings, right? He opened his report back up again, and when he looked up at Clark, the other man looked almost disappointed. 

"Are you okay?" Bruce asked. "We can talk more if you need to."

"Nothing." Clark sighed, then after a pause, "I didn't expect to be kissed by you and not even remember it."

"It was... nothing memory-worthy," Bruce tried to amend, remembering the hot sear of Clark's mouth. The slide of his tongue against Bruce's own. He'd just lied to Superman's face, because he remembered that kiss in vivid detail.

"Too bad I don't believe that," Clark said, smiling sadly. They fell into a much more comfortable silence then. Bruce worked on his case and Clark watched a news report on the invasion. After there was nothing left to watch, Clark checked out all the monitors, even did an x-ray scan of the earth- Bruce could tell by the way his eyes went out of focus- and fiddled with his fingers some more.

"You can take a break if you want to," Bruce suggested when Clark started pacing. Clark gave him a forced smile. "It's fine, I'm good."

Bruce didn't know what to say, or do. They'd kissed and well... Clark and Selina were different people when it came to kissing. And in general. When he'd dated Selina, they'd never needed to say anything. She would wrap her arms around his neck and kiss up from his jaw to his mouth and they'd end up wherever they ended up. Bruce stopped that train of thought, not sure why he was comparing Clark to his last relationship. It wasn't like Clark could compare to Selina- well, nothing could compare to Clark and no kiss Bruce had had compared to the one he shared with Clark- but that's _not_ what he meant and this was all derailing fast and was getting confusing. He needed to see Cat. As soon as possible.

He didn't give Clark a goodbye except for a short nod, because that just wasn't what Batman did. More honestly, he would've said something if Flash wasn't in the room offering to relieve Batman of his duties. It was almost 2 a.m. when he reached Gotham. Selina wouldn't be out this late, but she'd probably still be up, so he headed to her penthouse, in one of the richer parts of Gotham. He slipped in with relative ease, hiding in the shadows as she moved from the kitchen with a glass of wine. She startled madly when she saw him, then rolled her eyes with distaste.

"Does my security system mean nothing to you? God I'll have to set it again tomorrow," she groaned, sinking in one of her plush settee chairs. A cat jumped into her lap, as if on cue.

"I'll set it on my way out," Bruce said. She muttered a thank you into her wine.

"What brings you here at this ungodly hour that people don't usually like being disturbed at, Knight of Darkness?" she asked, tucking her feet underneath her.

"It's-," Bruce hesitated. "I can't ask this to anyone else."

Her eyes narrowed and she sat up straighter. "You're having love trouble!" When Bruce didn't deny it, she laughed a clear, ringing laugh. "See, I'm a detective too!"

"Spill, Lover Boy," she ordered, a slant smile on her face. "I assume it's Big Blue, judging from the media circus around you two."

"It... I talked to him today. He was... very bothered. By the time I left."

"Well, what did he say?" Selina asked, looking genuinely interested.

"That we should talk?"

"No shit, Sherlock," she said impatiently. "What did he say about the kiss?"

"That he didn't mind it..."

"And?" Her voice lowered dangerously.

"That he wouldn't mind it now."

"And then what did you do?"

"I- I told him I was glad he thought so."

"And?"

"And... nothing?"

"Oh God," Selina rubbed her temples. Then turned a fierce look on him. "Are you the world's greatest detective or the world's greatest idiot, exactly? Which one is it? Because I'm confused."

"Am I- Did I miss something?" Bruce asked. He'd come here to find the cause of Clark's distress, and Selina already seemed to know.

"Yes, you big, great, blind fucking mammal," she said. "You missed the part that was a blatant invitation for a kiss!"

"Where?!"

"When he said he wouldn't mind if you kissed him right then! That's when you're supposed to kiss the boy! Ugh." She looked disgusted by him. "I thought the first bird makes you see these movies!"

Dick did, and Bruce fell asleep during them. But that was beside the point.

"So I could kiss him? He'd be okay with it?" Bruce asked, just to be sure.

"Yes you nitwit," Selina said. She seemed to enjoy insulting him too much. "You'd probably make him the happiest man in the world by kissing him. If you want to, of course..."

There it was again. The dangerous slant to her voice. "Do you want to Bruce?"

"I- I'm leaving."

"Must be the first time you've ever said that in life."

"Bye Selina."

"Because of, you know, the disappearing act," she paused. She might have been a bit drunk. "Bye Bruce. Bi Bruce. Heh. You're probably bi, Bruce."

Bruce was pretending he hadn't heard that as he shot the grapple into the night.

~

The next few days, Bruce didn't have any work at the Watchtower, and he had a case to work on anyways aside from a meeting before the weekend. It gave him enough time to sort his feelings out. He'd always known he was attracted to men as well as women. He just... he never thought about it as real. But now it was. Suddenly. He knew he liked Clark. He'd cared about him as a friend for years. If Cat was right, and she usually always was, Clark wanted Bruce to kiss him. And maybe, he wanted to kiss Clark too. Bruce felt his heart skip at the thought. He still wanted to be sure he wanted this before he-before he made a move on Clark.

"Alfred," he asked one time, "when did mom and dad know? That they were in love?"

"There are two answers to that," Alfred said after a short pause. "Your father said he knew she was for him the third time they met. Your mother said she fell in love slowly. She used to tell her friends that she and Master Thomas were acquainted for over three years when she realized it."

"And he waited for her," Bruce asked.

"He waited for her," Alfred told him.

Bruce headed into the early evening. When he arrived at the League Meeting, he was the first one there. He usually excused when people were late for evening meetings, because a lot of them had more demanding day jobs than him. He started reading up on their points of discussion and then he heard someone come in. Clark. He had dark circles, his hair was more tousled than usual and he had a slump in his shoulders that would usually not be there. Bruce continued looking for patterns of stress in his body language till Clark took the seat opposite him.

"Bad day at the office?" Bruce ventured. Clark looked up at him. Then sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"You could say that, yeah."

"We should talk about-" Bruce was cut off by the arrival of the ever loud Green Lantern and Flash. And a few more. Bruce shut up instantly and went back to his reading. He could still feel Clark's eyes on him. When Bruce finally dared to look up, Clark was smiling at something stupid Lantern was saying. Yet he looked tired.

Then Diana called the meeting to order. It was an overall short one, everyone got some mission assignment or the other, and everyone dispersed with their documents. Bruce, however, had other things on his mind. He caught Clark by the arm as he floated to the exit.

"We should talk," he said shortly, leading him to the earth viewing deck.

"What's this about?" Clark asked a little nervously as they reached. Bruce finally paused, glancing at the earth below them.

"I- it seems I didn't understand what you said the other day," Bruce said, pushing his cowl away from his face. He'd have to delete the security footage immediately, but he couldn't do this with his face covered. Clark's cheeks were pink now.

"Really? What didn't you get?" His tone wasn't accusatory. Okay, maybe it was. Only a little, though.

"The part where you said you'd like to kiss me," Bruce said. Clark was fully blushing now. His nose, ears, cheeks, neck all red. Bruce thought it looked pretty.

"Well, I didn't exactly-"

He was cut off by Bruce slipping his hands around Clark's neck. Their faces were inches apart.

"I have to do it right this time," Bruce said. "So- Clark, will you kiss me?"

Clark let out a small laugh in response before leaning in.

This kiss was nothing like the first. It was slow and warm and Clark was kissing him- kissing him back, and Clark's hands were around him, pulling him the slightest bit closer. Bruce decided that he liked this second kiss way better.

"Did you like it?" Bruce asked once they broke apart for breath.

"What, the kiss?" Clark asked, and smiled with his dimples on full display. He ran a hand up Bruce's arm and up his shoulder to cup his jaw. "I think you made me the happiest man on earth."

"And was it memory-worthy?" Bruce asked. A little joke at his own expense.

"I think I'll need to try it a few more times to decide," Clark said, leaning in. They were broken up for the second time that day by the ever annoying Hal Jordan. Bruce glared at the intruder but Clark said it was fine. There were a hundred more kisses to come.

**Fin.**  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you liked it? Pretty please? <3 Yell at me on [tumblr](www.brucie.tumblr.com)


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